Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

My 3 Sims! delivers a unique trifecta of gameplay experiences by bundling SimTunes, SimTown, and SimAnt into a single compilation. SimTunes invites players into a playful, music-driven world where creativity is king: you paint “bugs” on a canvas and assign musical notes to each color, crafting interactive melodies as colorful creatures dance across the screen. The puzzles start simple but evolve with new mechanics that keep the brain engaged and the tunes flowing.

Switching gears, SimTown shifts focus to city-building and resource management. Here, players lay roads, zoned residential plots, and essential utilities like water towers and power lines to keep their miniature town thriving. Balancing population growth, traffic flow, and environmental factors makes each decision feel meaningful, and occasional random events—such as fires or storms—test your planning skills under pressure.

Lastly, SimAnt offers a real-time strategy spin, placing you in control of an ant colony on a suburban lawn. You assign workers to gather food, soldiers to defend against predators, and scouts to expand your territory. The mission-based structure provides clear objectives—rescue a princess ant, defeat rival colonies, or survive the gardener’s lawnmower—while the open-world sections invite experimentation with pheromone trails and ant specialization.

Graphics

Given the compilation’s vintage roots, the visuals lean toward bright, pixel-art stylings that retain a nostalgic charm. SimTunes features bold primary colors and whimsical bug animations that pop against the black background, making it easy to track both color patterns and musical notes. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface is color-coded and responsive, ensuring that even younger audiences can dive right in.

SimTown’s top-down perspective offers a clear, isometric view of your budding municipality. Buildings have a cartoonish quality, with tiny houses sporting animated smoke puffs from chimneys and cars blinking their headlights. The UI is straightforward, with icon-driven menus and tooltips that help you place zoning and public services without getting bogged down in micromanagement.

SimAnt’s graphics are surprisingly detailed for its era. You’ll see individual ants marching across grass blades rendered in simple but effective textures. Enemies—from spiders to rival ant colonies—are distinguishable in silhouette, making real-time combat readable and engaging. Although modern gamers might find the resolution low by today’s standards, the deliberate color choices and clean animations stand the test of time.

Story

While none of the titles in My 3 Sims! follow a traditional narrative arc, each offers context and goals that drive your play sessions. SimTunes frames your actions as composing a symphony for an enthusiastic audience of dancing creatures, giving a light-hearted impetus to what might otherwise feel like a sandbox toy.

SimTown provides an open-ended storyline: your town starts as a sleepy hamlet, and it’s up to you to attract new citizens, build schools, and fend off disasters. The emergent stories that arise from your successes—and occasional missteps—form the real narrative. There’s no fixed ending, but reaching a high population milestone or completing special events can feel like major plot beats.

SimAnt presents the closest thing to a campaign, assigning you missions with clear objectives and cutscenes that explain your colony’s plight. Whether you’re rescuing the queen or defending against a pesticide attack, each scenario adds a layer of context that keeps you invested. The mixture of sandbox exploration and mission-based structure means you can choose between following a storyline or simply experimenting with colony dynamics.

Overall Experience

My 3 Sims! is a celebration of Maxis’s early innovation, offering three distinct simulations that collectively showcase the breadth of the Sims brand’s creativity. Whether you’re in the mood for musical puzzle-solving, town-building strategy, or ant colony management, this compilation has you covered with hours of content across varied genres.

For newcomers, the bundled package provides an accessible entry point into classic Sim games, with straightforward tutorials and UI designs aimed at minimizing the learning curve. Veterans will appreciate the nostalgia and the chance to revisit foundational titles that paved the way for modern simulation games.

In terms of value, My 3 Sims! stands out as both an educational tool and a source of pure, imaginative fun. Each game hones a different skill—musical composition, urban planning, or resource management—making this compilation a versatile addition to any gamer’s library. If you enjoy sandbox creativity and old-school simulation charm, My 3 Sims! is well worth exploring.